BIG BEN IN LONDON AND IN YEREVAN IT IS

  Big Ben is unconditionally the most famous Clock on the planet. Big Ben, the “Voice of  London”, has been telling the time to the second since 1859. Construction of the 96 m clock tower began in the year Queen Victoria came to the throne, 1837, as apart of   the reconstruction of the Houses of Parliament following the devastating fire of 1834. Clock    Designer, Sir Edmund Grimthorpe,  the  architect and clockmaker died before the 13 1/2ton bell was mounted behind the four clock faces, which each measure7 m in diameter. The Armenian “Big Ben” and   its chime have a remarkable history, too. If you are   interested  to  know the  details, we can embark on a tip and find ourselves in the Republic Square of the city of Yerevan, where the “Square Clock’’ proudly rises on the facade of the  Govermment Building adjacent to the Nalbandyan Street to represent a beloved meeting point for many of the citizens  and a unique architectural monument.

The “ Square Clock’’ was transported to Yerevan from Moscow in 1941 by engineer Maglushevsky. The present location of the Clock was chosen by architect Alexander Tamanyan.  Many people who pass by the Clock and hear its sound never even realize what it looks like on the inside.

They say that the most ingenious ideas are the simplest ones.

The Clock in Yerevan is an electromagnetic device run by 56 batteries that are installed in the upper   portion of the Clock and transmit impulses to the five bells. Every hour the bells strike the first four notes of the Armenian anthem. An interesting story is told about the note D: it was misplaced and upon a permission from the Armenian Catholicos Vazgen A, note D was replaced by F, which was retained at that time in the Church of St. Zoravor in Yerevan. The hourly count is performed by the biggest bell of the Armenian “Big Ben”, A.